Protected Fish Species Handling Release Instructor

I.M. Systems Group, Inc. (IMSG), www.imsg.com, a Federal Government Contractor is submitting a proposal to work with the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Office of Sustainable Fisheries (OFS) office located in Silver Spring, MD.  We are currently looking for a candidate to fill a position for a Protected Fish Species Handling Release Instructor to conduct various workshops that may become available after contract award.   The candidate will conduct the workshops on the safe handling, release, disentanglement, and identification of protected species, to reduce serious injuries or mortalities of protected species and improve reporting.

Protected species include smalltooth sawfish, marine mammals, and sea turtles.  Atlantic longline and shark gillnet fishery permit holders were first required to take this training and obtain certification prior to renewing their HMS permit(s) in 2007.  Certificates are valid for approximately three years.  Many constituents who were first issued certificates in 2009 will need to be recertified as their certificates expire in 2012, as will any new applicants for shark and swordfish permits.  Atlantic longline and shark gillnet vessel operators are required to have a copy of the owner and operator’s workshop certification on board the vessel, and must submit a copy of a valid certificate prior to renewing their shark and swordfish permits.  A preliminary schedule has been developed based on areas with high concentrations of permit holders, and anticipates the need for 24 individual workshops.